December: Puzzle & Flow
I'm sitting at the fold-out table we bring out this time of year to push around puzzle pieces. It's still dark outside and there's no snow yet. What kind of holiday season doesn't have snow?
To my left is the puzzle we started last weekend and off to the right, in the corner of my eye, is our Christmas tree. It's still early so the house is quiet, but the Christmas tree gives me enough cozy vibes.
As the year wraps up I've found myself in more and more of a reflective mood. I think now is as good a time as any to pay more attention to myself as I prepare for a major life transition (fatherhood). I've tried to notice more things about myself this year, such as my ability to kind of only do things that I want to. I summarize this as "I can do difficult things as long as I want to do them".
Anyway, the reason I'm writing you today is because doing my holiday puzzle has had the gears turning once more. Have you done a puzzle lately? Have you noticed what happens to your attention as well as the time?
For me, when I'm in puzzle mode, the rest of the world disappears. I am so zeroed in on finding the next piece, or the right location for the one fragment I have in my hand that time evaporates and I don't even notice. What is it about puzzles that has ability to fully draw in your attention?
The more I think about it, tabletop puzzles seem to be instant flow creators. Those moments where you're so absorbed in what you're doing that nothing else matter. It's enjoyable. It's weird. You come out of it a little disoriented after two hours wondering "How have I only found 14 pieces?"
So I actually asked myself, what is it about puzzles that has ability to fully draw in your attention?
I think I've narrowed in on a few of them.
You know it's possible. There is no uncertainty in this. Given enough time, you can finish every puzzle put in front of you if you have the patience and every piece. This last one is important because they always seem to fall on the floor when you're packing them up and you don't notice for a few hours or days. 🙃
You know how to do it. If you've done one puzzle you've done them all. You probably have an approach to doing puzzles. For me it's always Edges → Obvious Areas (unique colours, patterns, writing) → Everything Else. Somewhere in there I'm trying to sort some of the pieces into buckets either by location in the puzzle or colour.
You know what to do next. It can be a bit overwhelming when you start, but once you have a process, you generally know what to do next. It can take time to literally try that one blue piece you have in your hand against every other potential sky piece, but it's progress. Repeat that enough times and the whole puzzle comes together.
I obviously don't need to tell you how to do a puzzle.
The reason I even thought of this is because I started tinkering and coding again over the last couple of months and find myself in a similar state of mind. One of the things I've loved about programming is precisely that — things feel defined enough to get you into a state of flow while solving problems and making continuous progress. It's just a series of those 3 things repeated:
Knowing it's possible/the end goal
Knowing how to do it
Knowing what to do next
With other things I'm working on, specifically writing a long-form article I've had in my mind for months, I can never seem to get anywhere. I'm hoping to find a way to make writing a bit more flow-like for me.
Anyway, we're headed to Manhattan next week to spend some time in the ultimate holiday rom com environment. I'm hoping for some snow as walk through the park with some hot chocolate, soaking in the Christmas vibes. It's our last trip together before the big life event.
🎄 What are you doing this Christmas?